"Ashcan" Pete is Just Winging It (19)

+2 to every stat on every test for all investigators! 5 Clues a turn! It sounds unreasonable, but Gift of Nodens really is that broken!

• Clues: 5/5
• Support: 4/5
• Enemy Management: 3/5
• Mythos Defense: 5/5
• Complexity: Very Complicated

This deck exploits a rule that cards cannot be shuffled into an empty deck. If your deck is empty:

• Persistence can't shuffle itself back into your deck after you commit it from discard. You can commit both Persistences from your discard to every test you do for +2 to every stat on every test. You can even share this with your friends by committing it to their tests. +2 for everyone!
• Winging It can't shuffle itself back into your deck after you use it from your discard. You can spend all of your actions playing Winging It, getting 2 clues from each play.
• Profane Idol and Improvised Shield can't shuffle themselves back into your deck when they die. You can just replay them from discard. You are almost unkillable.
• Any skill you play with Gift of Nodens will be drawn during upkeep. Keep playing your most useful skill.
• (Not actually in the deck) Pushed to the Limit can't shuffle the Sledgehammer into your deck, so you can keep throwing Sledgehammers at 6 damage a pop. But that would be monstrous! (This deck focuses more on getting clues)

How to get 5 or more clues a turn:

2. Investigate with Winging It (+2 clues)
3. Investigate with Winging It again (+2 clues)
4. Investigate with Duke to move to a new location (+1 clue), using Gift of Nodens to commit Resourceful to grab something from your discard pile

There are, of course, many ways to mess with this formula. Maybe you don't need to move with Duke and you can Winging It three times. Maybe you don't need to pick up something from discard and you can Contemplative this turn, potentially getting up to 8 clues. (You usually want to play Resourceful, though).

Pete's is kind of sad, at just 2. But, with both Persistences, he's at 4. While playing a Winging It, he effectively has another +1 (5 total). The deck also contains one Magnifying Glass, Lawrence Carlisle, and Plucky to boost you higher.

Why not just use George Barnaby instead? It could work, but Cast Adrift and his hand-size restriction are extremely frustrating for our purposes. I will leave why as an exercise for the reader.

Setup: This deck is intended to setup extremely fast, usually by turn 3. The only cards you truly need are Gift of Nodens in play and Daredevil to mill your whole deck. Everything else, you can just grab from your discard pile later. You should mulligan for Gift of Nodens and Daredevil, or cards to find them, like Mr. "Rook" or Resourceful. Do not keep things like Magnifying Glass or Lawrence Carlisle. You can grab them from your discard pile once you are set up.

Mythos Defenses:

• Improvised Shield and Profane Idol soak damage and horror forever and can even sacrifice themselves to protect you from an unlucky Crypt Chill
• Since you can commit both Persistances to everything, Pete effectively has 6 and 5. No problem.
• Share Persistances with your friends! Give them +2 on every test to protect them from the Encounter deck!

Enemy Management:

• You have Duke, and with 2 Persistances, you can attack at 6 total skill and 2 damage, which isn't bad for a dedicated cluever.
• If you need to evade, you can Gift of Nodens Survival Instinct to run away
• You can also use Resourceful to pick up Predator or Prey? to either shepherd enemies around or move someone out of danger
• If you really want to deal damage, add to the deck Sledgehammer (4) and two copies of Pushed to the Limit

Specific Mechanics

• Gift of Nodens places a card on the bottom of your deck, which gets around the rule against shuffling a card into your deck when it is empty.
• During upkeep, you will draw the last skill you committed with Gift of Nodens, so you get to use it next turn too.
• You can use Persistances and Gift of Nodens on the same test safely. They both apply their deck effect after the test, so you can just apply the Persistances' effect first to keep it in your discard pile, and then apply the Gift of Nodens effect.

Caveats:

• Don't let your hand get empty! Use A Glimmer of Hope to ensure you have fodder to discard for Gift of Nodens
• You have to use Gift of Nodens every turn, or else your discard will get reshuffled. This means you have to find some kind of test to take.
• If you use Gift of Nodens early in a round, you can't use your Persistences on later tests in that round -- they would get shuffled away from you and then you lose your main gimmick until your deck is empty again
• Don't play this deck in The Dunwich Legacy